Following the sharp decline in 2023, the HOMAG Group’s order intake increased again slightly in the first nine months of 2024. Sales and earnings decreased as expected.
“Even though our order intake has increased again slightly from a low level, we do not yet see an end to the market weakness,” explains CEO Dr. Daniel Schmitt. “This is particularly evident in the continued subdued demand for individual machines from the furniture industry, while the situation for large-scale projects is somewhat better and the service business is growing slightly despite the difficult environment.”
The HOMAG Group’s order intake increased slightly by six percent to EUR 1,031 million (previous year: EUR 968 million) between January and September 2024. The orders on hand decreased to EUR 806 million as of September 30, 2024 (9/30/2023: EUR 832 million). In the first three quarters of 2024, sales dropped by 14 percent to EUR 1,055 million (previous year: EUR 1,222 million) and EBIT before extraordinary effects decreased to EUR 35.0 million (previous year: EUR 91.2 million) as a result of the low order intake in the previous year.
The HOMAG Group is countering the lower capacity utilization with flexibilization measures such as short-time work and a reduction in the number of external employees. The package of measures to adjust capacity and increase efficiency, which included the reduction of around 600 jobs, has also been completed. “We will thus ensure our competitiveness and we also want to increase our profitability again,” says Dr. Daniel Schmitt. Accordingly, the number of employees decreased to 6,875 as of September 30, 2024 (09/30/2023: 7,482 employees). In addition to the job cuts, a reclassification effect must also be taken into account, as around 120 employees of a Polish service company have no longer been allocated to the HOMAG Group but to the parent company Dürr since the beginning of 2024.
